Reclaim

Support

Usually answered within a day.

Reclaim is a one-person project. Everything goes through GitHub, and it reaches the developer directly.

Common questions

Is it safe to remove derived data?

Yes. Xcode rebuilds it on the next build, which will be slower than usual and then back to normal. It is the single largest recoverable item on most developer Macs.

Where do deleted items go?

To the Trash, by default. Nothing is permanently removed until you empty it, so a clean can be undone from the Trash. Permanent deletion is available in the confirmation sheet, but it has to be chosen again for every clean.

Why won’t Reclaim delete my Docker disk?

The VM disk is one sparse image holding every image, container and volume, and it does not shrink when you remove things from inside it. Deleting the file destroys all of them at once. Reclaim measures it and hands the job to Docker, which prunes from the inside and lets Docker Desktop compact the disk. Add --volumes to remove volumes too.

docker system prune -a

Why is the Go module cache handled differently?

Go stores module files read-only on purpose, so a plain delete fails partway through and leaves the cache in a broken state. The Go toolchain clears it correctly.

go clean -modcache

Will it touch my Claude Code login or settings?

No. Authentication, settings and plugins are not part of the catalogue and cannot be selected, and a unit test enforces that on every build. Only caches, logs and, if you explicitly choose them, session transcripts are ever offered.

What happens if I delete session transcripts?

You lose the ability to resume or rewind those conversations. Nothing else in Claude Code is affected, which is why transcripts are rated Caution rather than Safe. If they keep growing back, set a retention period in ~/.claude/settings.json and Claude Code prunes them on its own.

"cleanupPeriodDays": 30

Does removing an Android system image break my emulators?

Any emulator built on that image stops booting until the image is downloaded again from the SDK Manager. Nothing is lost for good, but it is why system images are rated Caution.

Can I run it on a schedule?

Yes. Settings has a weekly background scan, and with “Open at login” enabled it keeps running without opening the app yourself. An optional notification fires when more than 25 GB is reclaimable. The scan never cleans anything on its own.

Does it need Full Disk Access?

Only for a few locations inside ~/Library that macOS protects. Reclaim works without it and shows a banner instead of failing — protected locations can simply measure as empty until access is granted in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Reclaim is free and open source under the MIT license, with no paid tier, no license keys and no account. If it saves you a weekend of disk archaeology, an issue or a pull request is the only thanks the project needs.

If something went wrong

  • A clean removed too much

    Open the Trash and use Put Back — macOS remembers where every item came from. History records exactly what was moved, when, and how much space it freed.

  • Xcode is behaving strangely after a clean

    Quit and reopen it. Derived data and module caches rebuild on the next build; a stale Xcode session sometimes keeps pointing at folders that are gone.

  • The scan reports less than expected

    Locations that need Full Disk Access can measure as empty until it is granted. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security, then rescan.

  • Sizes look wrong on an APFS volume

    APFS clones and snapshots can share blocks, so freeing a folder may release less than its reported size. Reclaim reports the on-disk size of the files themselves.

Still stuck?

Open an issue with your macOS version, your Reclaim version, and what you expected to happen. A screenshot of the scan helps.

Open an issue